


A solid defense strategy

by strawberriesandtophats



Category: Person of Interest (TV)
Genre: Chess Metaphors, Finch unlocks the vault's doors, Fix-It, Love, M/M, Not Canon Compliant, return 0
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-10
Updated: 2017-09-10
Packaged: 2018-12-26 01:50:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12048816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/strawberriesandtophats/pseuds/strawberriesandtophats
Summary: The king had to be protected. Without a king, there was no game.





	A solid defense strategy

**Author's Note:**

  * For [talkingtothesky](https://archiveofourown.org/users/talkingtothesky/gifts).



__

The Numbers never identified John’s role as anything other than an agent, an employee if a skilled one. On dark nights, sitting on the massive bed in his loft apartment and then later in the shitty apartment where John Riley lived, he was absurdly grateful.

They’d never mistaken him for the boss, with the same ease that a child would never mistake a rook or a queen for a king on a chessboard. John was used to moving around the city, acting as a bishop and a rook all at once, pretending that he wasn’t the queen on this chessboard.

Reese had spent enough time undercover and in the army to know how to move and act like a pawn. It was the piece most people thought of as his true position. A foot soldier, easily discarded and sacrificed. It was easy to allow people to think that was what he was, at the core. Root slipped into thinking about him as one, or at least a pawn that had been turned into a knight by some odd magic. It was good to have teammates, others to rely on when the Numbers and Samaritan became more difficult to handle. And it was better to have more people to defend the king.

He’d seen the alarm on their faces when Harold had gone missing and John had swept up the role of the one in charge, how he’d sweep all other priorities away and only focused on finding Harold again. Fusco had been too used to John’s downward spiral into a man with one goal in life and willingness to burn down anyone and anything in his path to finding Harold again to do more than look grim when Harold went missing. He’d seen what happened when Root had taken Harold, not to mention what had happened when Carter had died.

The king had to be protected. Without a king, there was no game.

Chess was a war, it was as simple as that. As long as the king had someone to protect it, they could still win.

Harold was the king, not the Machine. That was the truth of it, what other people didn’t grasp, sometimes not even Harold himself. The Machine could be rebuilt. It had already evolved.

So, it was easy to push Harold behind him, even if they were behind bulletproof glass. It was easy to allow himself to stay in Harold’s personal space, their shoulders touching and basking in the smile on Harold’s face. It was easy to play every piece on the board if that meant that Harold was safe and sound.

And when Harold locked him away in a vault, where you keep treasured things, he’d screamed at Harold to wait for him. He’d heard his own voice cracking, his hands gripping the bars.

Without it’s subjects, the king had no power. And disabling the most powerful piece on the board, even if it was second-hand and worn, is not a good move. Harold had locked him in before.

But this time he stopped in the hallway.

Reese’s heart stuttered in his chest, his throat raw and fingers numb.

Harold turned around, silent and shaking. And he’d let John out.

The door had unlocked as easily as it had shut, and they fell into step together, walking towards the end of their partnership.

 

 


End file.
